WEST BOYLSTON — More than three dozen people - many voicing their displeasure - attended Monday's opening of the public hearing for a proposed Cumberland Farms at 114 Worcester St.

The proposed gas station and convenience store would sit on a piece of 39,000-square-foot land between Routes 12 and 140 (Worcester and West Boylston streets) bordered by a a residence, Honey Farms and the BP gas station.

The land now has a house and a garage. Plans call for a 4,513-square foot store, four gas pumps, a small, outdoor seating area and two entrances on both sides of the property. The Route 12 side will have two-way traffic at each curb cut.

The Route 140 side will have one two-way curb cut, and a second that would be an entrance only, meant for gas deliveries, according to attorney John Smolak, of Smolak and Vaughan, of North Andover.

The company is seeking variances for signs that exceed the town's new sign bylaw and for a a reduction in parking spaces, as well as two special permits. One special permit is to operate a gas station, the second is to operate 24 hours.

Traffic was a major concern expressed by residents at the meeting, with speakers who mentioned traffic issues sometimes receiving applause from the attendees. Representatives of Cumberland Farms say the new store will generate few new cars, between 30 and 60 per hour. That assertion was described in various ways by residents who spoke, including "ludicrous" and "ridiculous."

At issue for some was a traffic study that was done over a two-hour period in July, on a weekday. Under the model used, cars using the routes 12 and 140 intersection were counted. The peak 15 minutes of those two hours were extrapolated to give an estimated traffic count for one hour. The formula included a 1 percent growth factor, for five years, based on data from the Mass. Department of Transportation and the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission.

Traffic Engineer Jason Adams said the new store will present no traffic delays on 140, and only about one second per car on Route 12.

"It will not even be a noticeable difference," Adams said, later saying "one second doesn't feel like anything," when driving.

That is based on an average. He gave, as an example, one car that may have to stop for a turning vehicle and be delayed for 10 seconds. The next nine cars do not have to stop, creating an average of one second.

Addressing criticism of the study, Adams had responded by saying retail stores are not designed based on holidays, you design it for the remaining 364 days of the year.

Zoning Board member Jon Meindersma questioned the study's accuracy, noting that the study only counted cars at the intersection. However, many vehicles use Franklin Street to travel between the two streets.

Those drivers may not enter the intersection now, but could add to the congestion later by heading to the new store, Meindersma said. He said the traffic study is underestimating the impact the store will have on the area.

"I understand you don't build a cathedral for Easter and Christmas, but when it happens every day, you need a bigger cathedral," Meindersma said.

Adams said the data, which followed a national standard, includes new traffic to the site.

"We don't expect vehicles to go through the intersection if they are not going through the intersection today," he said.

Residents speak

Aaron Goodale III, a Zoning Board associate member who spoke at the hearing as an abutting property owner, not a member of the board, was also critical of the traffic information, drawing laughter when he told Adams he has done his "own traffic study in the area for 40 years."

Goodale, who owns the building directly across the street, has a driveway that would be across from one of the two exits for the store. Goodale said traffic at the intersection at peak hours already backs up past the point where the entrance/exit would be.

"You can't turn left there now," Goodale said. "I have to go right."

Others criticized the traffic study as well. Resident Deborah Mattison pointed out the study was done without the traffic generated by open schools as parents and buses use the intersection to move students. Former Zoning Board member Linda Isgro said a traffic count needs to be done when Mass lets out at Our Lady of Good Counsel, which also creates heavy traffic at the intersection.

Isgro had numerous other concerns about the plan, including questioning the posting for the hearing, which she said did not list the bylaws from which the company requested relief. However, Chairman John Benson read from the official application for the variances, which did list all of the bylaws properly.

Isgro also claimed the property, which was most recently used as a dwelling, requires relief for a change of use, and that the lot size, less than one acre, did not fit the requirements for a business. Variances for those issues had not been requested, she said.

Planning Board Chairman Christopher Olson read from his board's letter to the Zoning Board, suggesting the appeals group hire a private consultant to review the information provided by Cumberland Farms, as is the policy of the Planning Board.

Olson, an attorney, said often an engineer is needed to review the concepts presented by engineers hired by applicants.

"It's not that we don't believe the data provided by Cumberland Farms, but I like to verify it for ourselves," he said.

Olson also noted the town's bylaws require the applicant to prove substantial hardship, based on soil, lot shape or topography, before receiving a sign variance. Olson, like others after him, said he believed the company has not shown a hardship.

Smolak disagreed, citing vegetation that blocked the line of site to the store, prompting Zoning Board member Kristina Pedone to ask if he really believed people would not see the store from the road.

Also critical of the sign variance was Vern Johnson, the vice president of operations for Honey Farms.

Regarding the signs, he said the building as planned would be 30-feet high and clearly be visible from traffic traveling to the store. Echoing Olson's reading of the town's bylaws, that state a project should be in harmony with the neighborhood, Johnson, who noted he had also been at meetings where he was fighting for variances, said this project had more variance requests than he "had ever seen."

"It requires so many variances and permits it is exactly opposite of living in harmony," he said.

Smolak later responded that Honey Farms had an opportunity to purchase the land and now was trying to exclude others from using it.

Philip Sewall, of Getty Realty, representing BP, was the first to ask for an extension of the hearing, saying he had just been informed that a water line that services the BP station runs under the property. He claimed a legal right of way to service the line.

Smolak said nothing on the deed showed a right of way on the property, but that the company would work with the Water District on the issue. Engineer Philip Henry said the company was replacing the existing, aging water line as part of the project.

Abutting house

The most critical of the plan were the residents in the abutting house, which would end up just feet away from the building. Nancy Vautour and her son, Brian, co-own the house that was previously Herbert's Candy, and is now a residence. They have owned the house, that sat vacant for years, for four months.

Brian Vautour pointed out the elevation of the property would mean people from the store would be able to look into their home, and that up to seven air conditioner units would be just feet away from second floor apartments.

"How much noise can a fence muzzle?" he asked, suggesting tenants would not be able to sleep. Additionally, the store's dumpster is also feet from his property, he said.

Nancy Vautour was more critical of the company's promises, saying she had talked to abutters of the company's store in North Leominster, which has three cash registers running for most of the day.

"The noise is endless, and the volume is the same at 2 in the morning as it is at 2 in the afternoon," she said, citing the revving of motorcycles, the back-up warnings of delivery trucks, the closing of car doors and running engines. In addition, though a Cumberland Farms regional manager had said flat screen televisions and music outside the store had only a three-foot audible radius, and that the sound could be turned off, Vautour said neighbors in Leominster and Southbridge said the sound plays all night long.

Another family member, Roger Vautour, also recited the town's bylaws and the company's application, which states a hardship is caused by the existing shape of the site.

"Maybe squeezing into a non-conforming lot is not the best solution," he said, describing Cumberland Farms as a high-impact business, versus the low-impact businesses already in place in the area that "do live in harmony" with residents.

He suggested the company move further up Route 12, to the abandoned Wonder Bread facility.

Smolak requested an extension, saying many of the concerns could be addressed. However, he did respond to the general criticism, by asking, if a gas station and a convenience store already exist in the neighborhood, "why not here?"